Team USA is gearing up for the World Athletics Championships we’ve come to know as Oregon22, the meeting of the world’s best track and field athletes, right down the street in lil’ old Eugene, Oregon.
And where better than in Tracktown USA, on the newly reimagined Hayward Field? Athletes from all over the world will oppose Team USA, the top global track and field team, from July 15–24, 2022.
Considering that many of Team USA’s athletes are Oregonians, it will be somewhat of a homecoming. Among the athletes competing for Team USA are Noah Lyles, Athing Mu, Rai Benjamin, Emma Coburn, and Grant Fisher.
Mu was the 2020 Olympic gold medalist in the women’s 800m and won the U.S. Track and Field Outdoor Championships on Sunday in a staggering 1 minute, 57.16 seconds – only 0.15 seconds away from her world-record 1:57.01 time.
“This is just a little taste of what we’re going to get in three weeks,” Mu said to Ashley Conklin of My Oregon News. “The crowd was amazing here. I’m excited just to have that home-field advantage. Having worlds here is definitely awesome. It’s good for America and track and field. Excited to have good races and good competition.”
Taking second place on Sunday was World Athletics Championships gold medal winner Ajee Wilson, with a 1:57.23 season-best time. And in third was 2019’s World Athletics Championships silver medalist, Raevyn Rogers, with a season-best time of 1:57.96.
Noah Lyles is the defending World Athletics Champion for the men’s 200m. He won on Sunday with a 19.67 time, beating Erriyon Knighton with a 19.69. Fred Kerley set a world-record time of 9.76 seconds for the Friday 100m, and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Kenny Bednarek came in fourth with a time of 19.87.
“I came out here knowing that I didn’t have as many 200s under my belt as I normally do, so running all three rounds was definitely going to get me all the rounds I needed,” said Lyles, who tested positive for COVID-19 only one day after running a 19.61 in New York. “Now I’m consistently dropping 19.6, so the more 19.6s I see, the more times it’s going to be like, all right, something big is going to happen.”
Rai Benjamin is the 2019 World Athletics Championships and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist. He entered the team with only one 400m hurdle under his belt for the whole season after catching COVID-19 and dealing with hamstring tendonitis.
The one race he competed in before coming to Eugene was in Doha, Qatar, where he ran a 47.40-second sprint, beaten only by Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos, an Olympic bronze medalist.
“All I know is that I’m on home soil and I’ve got the home ground, and it’s going to be special,” said Benjamin.
Abby Steiner also ran a world-leading time, with a 200m sprint of only 21.77 seconds. She set the collegiate record for NCAA 200m with a 21.8 time for Kentucky two weeks past. A lead time which was broken near-instantly by Shericka Jackson on Sunday at the Jamaican championships with a 21.55 time.
“I think the biggest thing was just taking it one round at a time and executing each race and not getting too far ahead of myself,” Steiner said. “I think the biggest thing is to not put limitations on yourself, and I completely trust my coach so I know that his training cycles will have me ready for these meets. Making some new goals for worlds.”
And after numerous injuries in the past, Steiner feels she has a bit of something to prove.
“I’m excited to be on a world stage for the first time and being able to represent my country, it’s really special,” Steiner said. “We always said after the way last year ended that delay doesn’t mean denial. Although last year was the end of a chapter, it wasn’t the end of my story.”
Coburn is the 2017 World Athletics Championships gold medalist and the Doha silver medalist in 2019. She also won a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics – though she struggled and was eventually disqualified in the Tokyo Olympics. Coburn ran a season-best 3,000m steeplechase in 9 minutes, 10.63 seconds – her tenth U.S. title in ten tries.
“I don’t know how many of these my mom is going to see, and she was here. That’s just really, really sweet,” said Coburn. “I was on my victory lap, and I saw my sister and she was crying, and I made fun of her. I was like ‘why are you crying?’ and she’s like, ‘it’s such a big deal, 10 (titles).’ That was my intention coming in, a lot of swagger, I’m going to win my 10th. Qualifying for a world team on U.S. soil, doing it in front of my mom, winning my 10th title after a really crummy experience at my last big race in Tokyo, this is pretty great.”
Portland’s Bowerman Track Club had the best two runners in both the men’s and women’s 5,000m races. For the men’s race, Grant Fisher ran a final 4:03 mile to set a record of 13 minutes, 3.86 seconds, with teammate Woody Kincaid as the runner-up with a time of 13:06.70. And in the women’s race, Elise Cranny ran a 15:49.15 with cohort Karissa Schweizer taking second with a 15:49.32 time.
“Hayward has been good to me,” said Fisher. “I love coming here. It will be like home track advantage a little bit at Worlds. It’s nice having family and friends make it out. Last year in Tokyo (at the Olympics), no family and friends and no spectators, so this will be fun, and it will be fun to see the stadium full.”
And if you’re thinking that what happens in Eugene doesn’t affect you, remember that with many thousands of people from around the world coming to Oregon’s Mid-Willamette Valley, we’ll be seeing a lot of new faces around town. According to Christina Rehklau of Visit Corvallis, the United Kingdom contingent for the games will be arriving in Corvallis today.
By Ethan Hauck
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